The Labyrinth

Sub. Plots. Planning . . . Well this'll be short.

Hello? Have we met? Cause if we had, you'd know that my fellow Word Whore, Jeffe, and I share a particular trait in common: We're both pantsers. Writing a story is a journey of discovery. Granted. I don't go haring off without a map. I carry a few tools in my writer's box that allow me to map the labyrinth of a novel from above - to get an idea of how I might get from the entrance to the exit without being devoured by the minotaur.


Map in hand, I stride into the twists and turns of a story all full of confidence that THIS time, I've got it nailed. I know exactly where I'm going!

Then someone starts rearranging the walls and moving the dead ends and I'm pretty sure I just heard a hoof on rock somewhere behind me.

Using the words 'planning' and 'subplot' in the same sentence would imply that I'd consciously decided to put a subplot into a story of mine. Which couldn't be further from the truth. IF there are subplots in my books, it's by pure accident, UNLESS a secondary story line moves the main story line. I'm thinking of the Enemy series. The main plotline is the action/adventure and romance. Underpinning that is a war that spans the entire series. The action of the war impacts the main plot lines of each of the books. I don't know that it qualifies as a subplot, however, because it very rarely mirrors the main plot.

Could I construct a book with a subplot that I consciously fit together like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces fit into something greater than the sum of the parts? Possibly. But once I had constructed the blueprint for that story, I'd know too much and there'd be no point in writing it. Twisted, right? Frustrating, too, because I'd likely be a much faster writer if I could do that. But such is the curse of the pantser, wandering around in the maze of her story, waiting for the characters to come take her by the hand and lead her into the thickest, juiciest, most dangerous heart. It's a kind of magic. If I get too precise with planning, it is a stake through the chest of the story. And through me.



PS, As a follow up to our Staying Healthy While Writing posts, I offer up this tidbit: The FluidStance Level. This is an alternative for those of us who cannot have a treadmill desk due to space and/or cost constraints, but who value getting up out of our chairs to work.

Perils of the Writer: Keeping All Those Balls in the Air

As I'm now hip deep into the process of the third Thorn book, I've developed a lot more respect for writers whose subplots "get away from them", as it were.  Because it turns out it's a lot easier for that to happen than I thought.  It's now completely clear to me how, for example, Rowling went from the lean-and-tight Prisoner of Azkhaban to the 800-page beast that was Order of the Phoenix.

Both The Alchemy of Chaos and An Import of Intrigue have bits where minor characters from their respective first books have expanded roles.  Part of this was out of necessity of the plot-- I needed POV characters for a situation where those characters were the best choice.  Part of that comes from enriching the world altogether-- bigger things are happening with the gangs in Aventil, for example, so that means more people and new situations.  

So, the big question: how do I keep that natural growth from getting out of control?  Because as I reworked the outline for Thorn III, it became clear there were things I needed to at least acknowledge that I hadn't planned on before.  Characters who barely existed on the fringes of Thorn now needed a subplot.  How did that happen?  How do I keep that from taking things over and making what should be a lean action-y novel into a doorstopper?

For me, the main thing is pacing: each scene has to have a definitive this-drives-this-part-of-the-plot purpose. If it's not buying me anything, I drop it.  Case in point, in Import, I have a scene where Satrine visits with Sister Alana.  Mostly this is to put a pin in there that Sister Alana still exists and that Satrine has rekindled a friendship with her, because she doesn't really have a role in the plot itself.  But the scene gives character work on Satrine, her frame of mind in the current case, and advances the plotlines of her personal life.  Now, a minor character from Murder who gets bumped up in Import is Corrie, Minox's sister who works the night shift in the Constabulary.  I needed her as a POV character because Things Happen where neither Minox or Satrine are present, and hers was the best fit.  But that meant I couldn't just POV her when I needed her and ignore her at the later. She needed to stay involved throughout.  But, again: it must advance the plot.  I'm not going to check in with characters like Reverend Pemmick or Lieutenant Benvin or Commissioner Enbrain just for the sake of doing it.  

Now, do I succeed with this?  I think most of the time I do.  But that's for you all to judge next year when The Alchemy of Chaos and An Import of Intrigue come out.  

In the mean time, I've got plenty to do in the word-mines, including finalizing aspects of both those manuscripts, so off I go.  See you down there.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Subplots

THE GOOD:
HARDWORKING SUBPLOTS

 Just yesterday on Writer Unboxed, Dave King wrote:
So how do you bring your secondary characters to more convincing life?  One exercise that can help is to rewrite key scenes from the point of view of one of the more minor characters.  Even though those scenes won’t wind up in the final draft, they force you into the heads of your supporting actors so you can see what your major plot developments look like to them.
So how do you hit the right balance between making your minor characters people and making them behave themselves so you can write your story?
Subplots are one way to do it.  Humanize your secondary characters by giving them their own, independent plot threads not really connected to the main plot.  This lets you people your novel with living human beings without overly complicating your story.

Another way to fold your secondary characters into your story is to have your climax – the moment when the hero’s story resolves – also mean something to the minor characters.  If a single event wraps up everyone’s stories at once, then what came before is going to feel more coherent.  And you can make the characters’ various stories feel more independent if the climax means something slightly different to all of them. http://writerunboxed.com/2015/09/15/the-math-and-music-of-multiple-characters/


www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com talks about using Scrivener:
Looking at Subplots in Isolation.
Scrivener also allows you to select a group of documents (such as all the events pertaining to one subplot) and display them as if they were one document, in the proper order. This allows you to check the flow within a subplot or throughline. You could “scriven” together all the scenes involving one character, to get a better feel of his arc. Or you could scriven the entire manuscript so it appears as one long document.
http://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/scrivener.html#sthash.md2sqYVh.dpuf
I also recommend you see Jenny Cruisie's Plot and Subplot post:
http://arghink.com/2014/03/plot-and-subplot/

THE BAD:
UNSUBMISSIVE SUBPLOTS

In Writer's Digest John Grisham says:

"In crafting a strong middle, however, you have to avoid falling into the risky trap of subplots. Though they can keep the action going, it’s easy for subplots to wander off and become distracting. The reader gets confused, losing track of where the book is going and puts it down. Grisham calls meandering subplots “detours,” taking the reader off the main road of the plot. For example, a writer can veer off about Grandma’s marvelous pie-making skills, which she learned from a German chef who cooked for Kaiser Wilhelm and the German ruler who had his botanists develop a special strain of apples that yadda, yadda, yadda. The novel is about a young actress who gets a huge part in a new play but the author is ranting on about the Kaiser’s apples."
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/john-grishams-3-must-haves-of-novel-writing

THE UGLY:
TYRANNICAL SUBPLOTS

The March 25, 2015 post by Janice Hardy says:

"Subplots have a way of taking over novels. They steal all the action, distract the protagonist, or in the worst cases, shine brighter than the actual plot. Good subplots enhance the story, support the theme, brighten what’s already there, while a bad subplot tries to smother it in its sleep with a pillow."

The post also includes 3 questions to ask yourself about your subplots to see if they the cement shoes on your story.
http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2015/03/25/is-that-subplot-helping-or-hurting-your-novel/

Subplots: The GMCs of the Secondary Characters

'Sup with subplots in my stories? As a plotter ~muuuwahaha~ I construct subplots as part of the Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts (GMC) for the secondary characters. The main plot, of course, is all about the GMC of protagonist.

Secondary characters exist to push or pull the protagonist through the transformations imposed by internal conflicts and external conflicts. They typically represent either a personification of one of the protag's weaknesses (think Jiminy Cricket to Pinocchio), or they represent a divergence of character--the person the protag could have become if not for a critical decision/circumstance.

In order for secondary characters to be fully formed and fleshed out (pardon the pun) they need to have reasons for why they do what they do. They need to have lives that exist independently of the protagonist. They also need to have a purpose for interacting with the protagonist. They must want something from the protag. Sometimes their needs are in in direct conflict with the protag's goals. Sometimes it is their methods that are in conflict. Sometimes they are perfectly aligned but for different motivations. What is unshakable is that the protag will heavily influence their lives, their GMC, and the course of their conflict resolution during the story.

So, how do I keep the lives of my secondary characters from overwhelming the main plot? Part of it is by telling the story from the POV of the protagonist, so she only knows what she is told or witnesses. She only makes note of is useful or relevant to her...even if the relevance isn't revealed until later.

How do I keep from falling into the Piers Anthony trap that James mentioned yesterday? Always keeping in the fore of my editing-mind, that the secondary characters are a reflection of the protagonist. The protagonist must keep growing; therefore, the secondary characters must also change. They serve as a sort check and balance from book to book in a series.

The nice thing about anchoring subplots to secondary characters who are reflections of the protagonist, is that you control the great CAST OF THOUSANDS problem and the TOO DAMN COMPLICATED weaving of plot and subplots.

Of Hamsters, Pantsing and Becoming Creative

I still get a total thrill when people send me pics of my books on the shelves. Maybe one day I'll get over it, but not so far. Could be I'm getting tiresome about it because I showed my mom a pic on my phone that someone sent and said, "photos like this make me so happy!" And she said, "I know," in that *tone* people get, like when you've said something too many times.

But, hey. Look! Me and Guy Gavriel Kay!

Hee hee hee.

So, yeah, I might be also stalling a bit. Whenever I see topics like this week's - Spinning Plates and Weaving Subplots: How do you decide how to balance the main story and the connecting tales? - my brain goes a little fuzzy. In fact, as soon as I see anything in the realm of "how do you decide..." the invisible hamsters in my head start frantically scratching at the inside of my skull.

But I really don't want to write another post that's all an elaborate way of saying "I DECIDE NOTHING, PEOPLE. THE HAMSTERS DECIDE EVERYTHING AND I WRITE IT DOWN, OKAY???"

Instead I'll try to explain myself and why I have the process that I do. Besides the fact that I think every writer has her own process and that it's key for all of us to learn what our process is and own it. A lot of writers - both established and aspiring - spend a lot of time trying to alter their process. They want to write faster and better, which is admirable, so they try all kinds of things to make that happen. While I see people able to tweak and refine what they're doing, I rarely see anyone completely convert their process. Most of the time, I see writers completing the cycle with increased understanding and ownership of how they do what they do.

For my part, I've never really tried to change my process. Which means, when I tell people that I try to pre-plot, I'm kind of lying. I mean, I have tried - but I immediately give up, as it gives me that hamsters-scratching-at-the-inside-of-my-skull feeling.

I don't think I need to say it isn't a pleasant one.

Some writers whose methods are more like mine - the pantsers or the misters or the gardeners, or whatever analogy you prefer - say that it's more fun to discover the story as they write. I'm not sure I agree. It makes for angsty, difficult writing days, more often than not. There's a thrill when something falls into place, yes, but "fun" isn't really the right descriptor.

What it is, though, is fulfilling.

There's this whole debate about being happy versus living a rewarding life. I'm a big fan of pursuing happiness, but I'm also a believer in growth.

I often say that, if I wanted to get rich easily, I'd have become a stockbroker. Don't make that face - I'm good with numbers. It could have happened... But the whole reason I became a writer (which is kind of a long story) is because that was the answer when I asked myself what the most rewarding life would be for me. That's why I bailed on being a research scientist. When I committed to being a writer, I studied how other authors do it, particularly the ones I admire most. I wanted to know how they developed their creativity. I'd been so immersed in science that I felt like I didn't know how to be creative. I didn't so much ask the question writers hear so often - "where do you get your ideas?" - as I asked "HOW do you get your ideas?"

At the same time, I was studying Taoism. Really, I have been most of my life. I read the Tao Te Ching in high school and my honors thesis in college (for my other major, religious studies) compared the Tao Te Ching to a sermon by Meister Eckhart. But, when I made this huge choice to alter my career path and become a writer, I was with a kung fu school that emphasized spiritual and mental growth by channeling the subconscious. Taoism is a very individual philosophy, one that encourages this kind of focus on personal growth.

All of this is a long way of saying that I wanted to develop a writing process that channeled the subconscious.

THAT, more than anything else, is why I don't "decide" much about my stories. Instead I try to create a still space in myself, open a door and allow the story to come in. Some days it works better than others. Some days it doesn't work at all, which is agonizing. Other days the rush of being filled with a story from somewhere outside myself is an ecstasy unlike any other.

So, "fun" is really not the right word at all.

But rewarding? Yes, yes, yes.

Be still, little hamsters.

Send In the Clowns or Subplot: the Comedia del Arte Model

Subplots, up to this point, had always been all of the drama going on OUTSIDE of a book that kept me from finishing said book. Whether I was reading or writing.

However. I will echo KAK's appreciation of James's post because given the levels of complication I seem determined to pack into a single novel, I'm well acquainted with subplots. I just didn't know it.

Coming from an acting background, I had the Comedia del Arte definition of subplot fixed in my head. Comedia del Arte plays are structured around archetypical characters: the miserly old merchant, the gruff soldier who's really a coward, the fool, the lovers, ad infinitum. Usually, if a play followed the trials of a pair of lovers overcoming obstacles to being together, that couple and their relationship would be portrayed seriously (but it's Comedia and not opera - so HEA guaranteed there). However, the play would also likely include *another* couple as a subplot. They faced the same challenges to their relationship, but they're slightly ridiculous. The situations they face are silly. Comedic. Clownish. This couple isn't guaranteed an HEA. Depends on the show. The point is contrast and heightened emotional investment. The theory was that if we could get you to laugh at the silly couple, the plight of the serious couple sneaks up on you and wallops you over the head. Maybe that only worked in 16th century Italy and France.

It was from that standpoint that I'd been approaching subplots - that a subplot was a storyline that ran in parallel with my main story, but that didn't directly involve my main character(s). If that definition holds, I don't currently do subplots. I have my hands too full of ALL THE THINGS going on in my main plot. Hey. Do you think I could shoehorn this kitchen sink into the conflict?

But if James's definition of backstory = unresolved conflict feeding current drive = story thread to be resolved (or failed) in parallel with main story action, well then I'm there. That said, though, I'd like to try plotting in a secondary character's story. Just to see if I can pull it off.

Subplots...what more important: compare or contrast? NEITHER!

"A subplot is still a plot. ... Who among your secondary characters is sufficiently sympathetic and faces conflicts that are deep, credible, complex, and universal enough to be worth developing?"  --Donald Maass, Writing the Breakout Novel, pg. 182



After you have an answer to that question, you have to decide if this subplot will compare or contrast the main plotline. Both are viable options. What's more important than whether or not subplot is a redux or an opposite representation of the main plot, however, is: what impact it has on the main plotline.

None, you say?  -facepalm-  Pick another character. The subplot has to impact the main plot, or else it's just fluff. Maybe you like fluff. That's okay...but tension turns pages.

EXAMPLE: John and Mary are a young couple who find out they are pregnant. Mary's parents are sooo focused on her little sister getting into college and Mary purposely got pregnant in effort to get some attention for herself.
SUBPLOT: Mary confides in her neighbor, a young gay man who is working nights at a diner and putting together a portfolio to get into art college.

Sure, he'll have some encouraging things to say to his friend, but these paths are separating, not intersecting.

BETTER EXAMPLE: Let's say Mary is nineteen and an only child. Her mother, Ann, is sad and withdrawn because her husband, Bill, left years ago and she's never gotten over it, mostly because Uncle Joe is a pastor who blames Ann for Bill leaving and he harps on her about it every day. She's depressed, and while religion and faith are meaningful to Ann, Joe isn't being the supportive and loving servant of God she needs him to be. Because of all that, Mary is hesitant to tell her mom she's in trouble.
SUBPLOT: Uncle Joe's daughter, Amy, only fifteen, confides in Mary that she is pregnant...

Now, Mary has to help Amy cope and isn't sure how to cope herself. What if Joe finds out and makes an appointment to forcibly make Amy get an abortion so people won't think less of him? What if Amy runs away before the appointment because she wants to keep the baby? What if Joe think's Mary is hiding Amy? OOooo....so many what ifs!

Can you say tension? Wow. Now we have a subplot that has bite, one where we can see the dilemma's growing in Mary's life because of how the individual stories overlap. Compare the youthful pregnancy, contrast the parental reactions.

Consider this: broaden the scope of the story with a dash of social pecking order. How does all this deepen if one side of the family is wealthy and the other isn't?

I bet your first thought was to make the pastor and his family rich, and make the single mom and daughter poor. Right?

What if it was the other way around? POOF! There's the reason Joe lays the religion on thick--he's jealous. It's his way of getting back at Ann. POOF! Character development.

And what about theme? There is a clear theme emerging in the few sentences of the second example while there is none to discern in the first example.

Subplots: When One DunDunDuuun Isn't Enough

Thanks to James's post yesterday, I've finally learned why I am utterly incapable of writing short stories. One word:

Subplots. 

I love them...possibly too much. More than once an intrepid critique partner has told me,"it's too complicated, there's too much going on."

As I've blogged before, I'm a plotter. I detail the main plot, primary characters, external conflicts, and the red herrings. The subplots, however, those sneaky bastards work their way into the story as I'm writing the first draft. Why? Because the subplots are often birthed by my deeper understanding of the antagonists and secondary characters.

Yes, you read that correctly. Subplots, for me, are results of the Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts of the secondary characters -- be they part of the Scooby Gang or the Anti-Justice League. The subplots cross with the main plot because they impact the protagonist's External Conflict or Internal Conflict in some way.

Usually, those impacts come as surprises to me.

Some writers who are Pantsers resist plotting because it takes away the fun of discovery. For me, subplots are where the creative revelations burst forth. They are what causes the final chapters to end in a very different way from what I had outlined. (Yes, yes, shocking that the actual written story doesn't stick to the initial outline. ~cough~ Not. ~cough~)


During the first edit I go back and re-lace the subplots. Some of the threads are woven together (villains in collusion!), some are more tightly tied to the main plot (lust isn't love unless it's twue wuv!), and some are unraveled completely (exorcise those superfluous characters!). 

How many subplots are too many? Uhm. When the story gets too complicated or confusing? Really, I'm still working on striking that balance.  I'm fairly certain there is no fixed amount. It all depends on the story you're telling...and the cap on the word-count.

I Don't Speak Subplot - Do I?

I'm using my mom's laptop this morning. It's kind of a longish story, but she bought this snazzy ASUS on my recommendation a couple of years ago and she just HATED it. We could never adjust the cursor to a good speed and, though I looked up solutions to the strange cursor-jumping she experienced, none seemed to definitively solve the problem. I even disable the touch pad and set her up with an external mouse. Finally, in March, we bought her a new laptop for her birthday and she is SO much happier with it.

Big win!

So, a couple of weeks ago, she gave me her ASUS. Just in time, too, since my much-beloved ASUS netbook is receiving each new Windows Update like an octogenarian being tossed in the pool to swim twenty laps.Gasping and drowning, yes. Not to mention the cramps. It remains to be seen if I have the same troubles my mom did. The damn cursor *does* randomly jump. I've turned off the precision select options, so if anyone has other ideas, please let me know!

At any rate, the point of this long story is that I now have the unexpected bonus of accessing all of my mom's photos - including ones like this that I didn't know she took. I feel all spy-ish and am fascinated by the different point-of-view - something I explored in a similar way last week on Word Whores.

All of which has little to do with this week's topic: Subplots - to compare or contrast.

Actually, I'm not entirely sure what this means. Are we meant to compare and contrast subplots or discuss how subplots can be used to compare or contrast... something?

The thing is, and you all know this about me, I'm just not Plotter Girl. Not only do I not pre-plot, I really don't think in terms of PLOT at all. Sometimes my plotter friends ask me questions like "what's the purpose of this scene?" or "how will this fit into the overall arc?" These kinds of questions fill me with panic because I simply *cannot* answer them. I don't KNOW what the purpose of the scene is - it's just what happens. (Every time someone repeats the writing advice that all scenes must have a purpose and move the plot forward, I kind of giggle to myself. How do you know?? But, so far, no one has told me to delete a scene, so I figure I'm doing okay.)

Whenever someone asks me where something fits into the overall arc, I want to say this:

Yeah, my crit partners pretty much hate me.

All of this is a long way of saying that I simply don't speak subplot. I suspect a lot of this comes from me being such a strongly character-driven writer. I mean - do you think of your life in terms of subplots? Sure, we all have to prioritize and focus energy on some tasks and goals above others, but do we think of our children's problems as subplots to our own lives? If we had a plot built, say, around a divorced woman seeking a better life, then her adult daughter's infertility issues and desperate struggle to become pregnant might be a subplot to that, but in real life, it wouldn't feel like that to the mother. It would feel to her like One More Thing to worry about.

That's as much as I can wrap my head around it. I'd be curious, though, to hear from those of you who've read my stories if you think I've used a subplot. I kind of think I don't, but I'm willing to be taught!

Hey, it could happen...